Chargers Blast Steelers 34-24 For First Regular Season Win in Pittsburgh

The San Diego Chargers played their best game of the year, and it came on the road in a place where they haven’t won a regular season game in their history – Pittsburgh.

They slammed Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, and made sure not to blow a second-half lead like they did five other times this season. The result was a solid 34-24 win.

”We all know that this team has played this way through large parts of many games,” Norv Turner said. ”We did not make the big mistake in the football game.”

The Bolts pass rush made Roethlisberger look like an everyday QB, as coming back from injury he struggled early and the Steelers never recovered as the Chargers built a 27-10 lead.

Philip Rivers threw three touchdown passes, two to Danario Alexander, and underachieving San Diego beat the Steelers on the road for the first time since the AFL and NFL merged more than 40 years ago.

”This isn’t necessarily the team we thought we’d have on the field in December, but this is the type of performance we thought we’d put together,” said Rivers, who completed 21 of 41 passes for 200 yards.

The Chargers have been one of the NFL’s biggest disappointments after a 3-1 start evaporated into a 1-7 slide that fueled speculation coach Norv Turner and general manager A.J. Smith could be fired at season’s end.

Bottom line, if you were handicapping this game, you would have never seen it coming.

That’s why they play the game though, and for the Chargers, it was about time. With three games left they are 5-8, and while .500 probably won’t save Turners or Smith’s job, Sunday in Pittsburgh sure was fun.